BlackBerry Refuses to Give Up – Priv 2 Possibly in the Works

Blackberry is about to pull off a Nokia this year. Apart from reviving their fortunes, BlackBerry is reportedly set to launch 3 phones just like Nokia did last year. The three phones which are codenamed Athena, Luna and Uni are expected to be unveiled at the MWC 2018 held in Barcelona next week.

In the past few months, BlackBerry devices have popped up on Geekbench and European device registration databases. Although Blackberry has officially announced its launch of two new devices, there might be another one launching too if rumours are to be believed.

Now, a patent for a new camera design has been granted to BlackBerry by the World Intellectual Patent Organization. The patent is titled “Electronic device and method of controlling same for capturing digital images,” and images provided show that it may be limited to devices with a slide mechanism.

According to the patent that was first spotted by Dutch news outlet LetsGoDigital, the rear camera lens is placed on the outer housing of the phone. Then, another lens is positioned at the other rear housing that’s part of the slide-out keyboard. The secondary lens is identified as a conversion lens.

When you want to use the additional functionality of the auxiliary lens, you slide the phone down. For normal photos, you slide the device up. The hole labelled 522 is actually an optically clear cap to let the LED flash pass through when the phone is contracted.

TCL had confirmed at CES 2018 that at least three smartphones under the BlackBerry Mobile portfolio are in the works from their end. In 2015, BlackBerry had showed off the Priv at MWC. Even last year, the KEYone was first announced at MWC. We look forward to seeing what TCL has up its sleeves this time round. Stay tuned to EOTO for all the latest coverage!